Manama: A Saudi man wanted to take his ex-wife from her new husband so bad that he threatened to kill him if he did not divorce her.
Police in the northern city of Hael were told by the woman that she had divorced her husband following irreconcilable differences. She complained that her husband was not fit to raise the children and that he was often drunk. The court divorced them, granted the woman the custody of their three daughters and two sons and ordered the husband to pay the alimony for the children.
However, when the former husband learned that his ex-wife married another man, he became so infuriated that he went up to the new husband and threatened to kill him if he did not divorce her.
The woman said that her new husband became so afraid that he decided to divorce her two weeks into their marriage.
The former husband informed her that he would wait for the end of her idda, the ritual waiting period, before remarrying her.
However, the former wife took her case to the police and sued her first husband for spoiling her second marriage and causing her divorce.
Under Islamic laws, women who are divorced or widowed have to wait for a period of time before they can remarry. The period is three menstrual cycles for divorcees and four months and ten days for widows. The purpose is to ensure they are not pregnant before she remarries. Divorced pregnant women have to wait until they give birth before they re-marry.
Readers harshly criticized the first husband for his abuse and blackmailing, but were equally harsh with the second husband for giving in easily and not standing up to defend his wife “like a real man.”